


all that you are

by emilia_kaisa



Series: advent challenge 2019 [5]
Category: Figure Skating RPF
Genre: Character Study, Hope, Light Angst, Not Beta Read, Songfic, the author has a lot of feeeeels
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-05
Updated: 2019-12-05
Packaged: 2021-02-24 16:08:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 811
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21680710
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/emilia_kaisa/pseuds/emilia_kaisa
Summary: It all started in 1998.Michal was almost eight years old when he sat in front of the tv, eyes glued to the screen, watching his national team winning the olympic gold in ice hockey. His small country, beating everyone else in the world.He wanted to be like them."Very good." his father said when Michal came to him, eyes sparkling with joy and excitement "But you need to learn to skate first."And that was how the story began.
Series: advent challenge 2019 [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1559338
Comments: 2
Kudos: 6





	all that you are

**Author's Note:**

> Hi I love Michal and this is a little thing about him, I hope you enjoy!  
> Song: 'All that you are' by Goo Goo Dolls

It all started in 1998.

Michal was almost eight years old when he sat in front of the tv, eyes glued to the screen, watching his national team winning the olympic gold in ice hockey. His small country, beating everyone else in the world.

He wanted to be like them.

"Very good." his father said when Michal came to him, eyes sparkling with joy and excitement "But you need to learn to skate first."

And that was how the story began.

* * *

Brno, Oberstdorf, back to Brno, trying to keep up with school, Oberstdorf again, triple salchow, finally triple axel, just after he turns 15. Winning first small competitions, trying to keep up with Tomáš, fighting for the place on the top of the country. Sixteenth place at his first Europeans isn't bad, and the will to do better next year helps him push through his injuries, a knee surgery, a broken wrist, and he skates through it all, because he has to keep going if he doesn't want to fall behind, and he can't.

Michal loves the ice, and he thinks that there is something addictive about sitting in the kiss and cry, waiting for the score, for his dreams and expectations being being fulfilled or crushed. There is always a fluttering in his stomach, and a lump in his throat, and no matter what happens, he always smiles, because smiling is his natural state, and he has reasons to smile, finally, after years of training.

2010 starts good.

Fourth at Europeans, a thrill running down his spine, because this is good, but he can be better, and then the olympics, and everything is new and exciting, and the world is open for him, his quads giving him edge over so many skaters in the field.

He finishes fourth at worlds and it stings only a little, because he knows the next year will be better, it has to be, and maybe he will finally, finally prove to everyone what he can do. He is a realist and he knows that he needs a miracle or two skates of his life to maybe challenge the guys for the world title, but he is young and hopeful, and he is working hard, and the whole world is open for him.

He will do good. He will make his country proud, his couch and parents, and his little sister who is looking at him with bright eyes full of wonder.

He feels like he is trapped in some cursed circle he can't break, no matter how hard he tries. Fourth, eighth, fourth, sixth, and then Zagreb, and he can breathe with relief because there it is, a moment when he feels like he is able to do something, finally, to be someone, to matter, to make a change. Maybe he can make a difference, bring his country the medals they have been wanting for so long.

He's not the one, in the end.

He doesn't know what is happening, and why suddenly he is falling, falling behind, falling apart, and what happened to all these hopes and possibilities that were within his reach but now they seem to be lost forever.

And he is trying, he is trying so hard, but it feels that no matter how hard he tries he is always destined to collapse, to fall apart in front of the entire world.

But then there is her. She is beautiful and kind, and if she's the only prize he would win in his entire life, he's taking it, because suddenly it's all worth it.

He moves across the ocean, for her and for himself, and suddenly everything hurts a bit less, and everything feels like more, because yeah, skating is great, but it's not the sole reason for Michal to be alive. Now, there is someone to talk to, someone his heart is longing for, and skating titles be damned, this is the real thing.

He sometimes feels like an outsider, because he doesn't really have the eyes on the biggest prize now. He knows himself, and he knows what he's good but not good enough, but he also realizes that it's not really that important.

He was killing himself with a thought that he was carrying his whole nation's hopes and disappointments, weight of it all heavy on his shoulders. But now, holding her hand and grinning at the dark screen in the doctor's office, it all doesn't really matter.

He still loves to skate, and he still wants to do that, maybe set an example for his younger countrymen to follow. But life is so much more, with so many things to offer.

_And I feel all the faint morning light_

_Filled with hope 'cause you're here in my life_

_And we've gone from the edge of our souls_

_Made it back to a place we call home_

  
  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading!


End file.
